Remedia has released a case study on its role in the cleanup of 318 Nevins Street in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood. The site is enrolled in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Brownfield Cleanup Program as Site C224350. Remedia™ Hydrocarbon Stabilizer was specified to control odors while crews drilled out and removed coal-tar contamination buried up to 35 feet underground.
The Problem: A Century of Contamination Under One City Block
The roughly 2.3-acre property sits just east of the Gowanus Canal, a federal Superfund waterway, in one of Brooklyn’s fastest-redeveloping areas. Over the years the site was used as a lumber yard, coal and coke yards, a motor freight terminal, a telephone facility and a food commissary. Over many decades, coal tar also moved underground onto the property from the former Fulton Municipal Works Manufactured Gas Plant, about 325 feet to the north. Coal tar is a thick, oily byproduct of turning coal into gas, and engineers call it NAPL (non-aqueous phase liquid).
During the investigation, coal tar turned up in 42 of 63 deep test borings, mostly 20 to 35 feet below the surface and below the water table. NYSDEC’s October 2023 Decision Document named these contaminants of concern:
Coal tar, both as liquid NAPL and as heavily contaminated soil.
In October 2023, NYSDEC selected a cleanup plan that included excavation, a protective cover system, vapor controls, and in-situ solidification (ISS). ISS mixes cement-based materials into contaminated soil underground so it hardens in place and locks the contamination up. From January to April 2025, crews solidified about half an acre of coal-tar-affected ground this way.
Some treatment columns hit buried concrete foundations and rebar 8.5 to 11 feet down. Those obstructions stopped them from reaching the planned depth and left some coal tar untreated below. The state-approved fix was to drill out about 85 locations with a 48-inch steel casing and 42-inch auger and physically lift the tar-soaked soil out. Bringing that material to the surface is the point where odors are most likely to escape. It is also where Remedia was specified.
Most odor controls react after contaminated soil is already exposed. Remedia™ Hydrocarbon Stabilizer works earlier. Crews applied it directly into the drill casing, above and within the coal-tar zones, during active drilling. That stabilized the hydrocarbons and suppressed odors before the spoils ever reached the surface.
Remedia™ Hydrocarbon Stabilizer treats contamination where it sits, rather than covering it up or moving it somewhere else. The water-based aqueous catalyst uses Remedia’s patented RTL Technology to mitigate petroleum and other organic contaminants through catalytic conversion. Crews can spray onto impacted soil, water, hard surfaces and equipment, or apply it directly at the source via injecting or during drilling activities. Once applied, it acts quickly to reduce harmful emissions, suppress the odors and reduce concentrations of contaminants. Because it is more than 87% water and inert ingredients, non-flammable, and not classified as a carcinogen, it lets contractors control contamination at the point of disturbance without adding new hazards for crews, neighbors or the surrounding environment.
Hydrocarbon Stabilizer is well suited to work right next to where people live and work. According to the Safety Data Sheet filed with NYSDEC, Remedia™ Hydrocarbon Stabilizer is a water-based, essentially odorless, non-flammable liquid made of more than 87% water and inert ingredients. It is not classified as a carcinogen by IARC, OSHA, or NTP. It has no CERCLA reportable quantity, is fully TSCA-listed, is not on California’s Proposition 65 list, and carries an HMIS rating of Health 1 / Fire 0 / Physical 0.
“For Gowanus-area sites sitting over migrated gas-plant coal tar, the deciding factor is rarely whether the contamination can be removed. It’s whether it can be removed without an odor event next door,” said Wyatt Schwab, VP of Operations at Remedia. “Hydrocarbon Stabilizer goes to work at the source, inside the casing, before odors have a chance to escape. That’s what makes it possible to take on jobs like 318 Nevins in the middle of a neighborhood.”
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